Watched a bunch of movies recently. The reason why I haven't written up any movies lately is because I haven't seen any. And the main reason why I write them up is not to give an insightful review, but to remind myself that I watched the movie. Too many times I've seen a movie and subsequently forgotten seeing it, so I just want to make these markers I can go back to.

So recently, in the past few weeks, I've seen:

"Yes Man" on HBO, Jim Carrey film that an ex-co-worker said was really good. I disagree, it's not bad, per se, but not the kind of film I consider good. Feel-good, sophomoric, predictable, unchallenging, except in the most mundane way, Hollywood fare. I would watch it again in the background just because Jim Carrey is extremely talented and entertaining, if not annoying. Barely fresh 6 out of 10 tomatoes.

Re-watched "The Bucket List" on HBO, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. After panning "Yes Man", I'm surprised that upon second viewing, I give this feel-good, sophomoric film a thumbs up. Perhaps because of the veteran nature of the talents, including director Ron Howard, it hit all the right emotional notes. Solid fresh 7 out of 10 tomatoes. That said, "Yes Man" might fare better if I watched it again.

"The Sting" on Cinemax. A classic, and rightly so. Filmed in the 70's, set in the 30's, it's about grifters in Chicago setting to pull off the "big con". It's a definite 9 out of 10 tomatoes, and I'm sure many would push it to 10 out of 10. Great plot, great performances, good entertainment.

"Bullitt" on Cinemax. A cop film classic starring Steve McQueen, known most for its San Francisco muscle car chase sequence. McQueen is assigned to protect a mob witness to testify before Congress. The film sets up mysteries and plot twists that only go halfway. The criminal plot involved ends up being pretty straight forward, with no intrigue – which in a way is good because it was setting up that angle so much it would have been predictable if it happened. I'll take a Dirty Harry movie any day. Barely fresh 6 out of 10. It's worth watching to see how films were done in the 70's and Steve McQueen is very good.

"Milk" on HBO. Sean Penn is often heralded as one of the greatest actors of all time, at the top with Marlon Brando, and his portrayal of murdered San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk is a good case for it. In general, I don't like rating biopics very high because half of the actor's work is done – they're portraying a character that is already created and all they have to do is feed into the public perception of that person. Still an excellent movie. 8 out of 10 tomatoes.

"Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist" on HBO. I kind of had it on in the background, half watched it. It started playing out like the films I've panned in the past few years – films with "comfortable" budgets trying to re-create the feel of "legitimate" indie films. "Thumbsuckers" and "Garden State" would be on my list of all-time worst films, I'm sure I've mentioned that before ad nauseum. Then filmmakers started getting more clever about it and "Juno" was decent. This one I want to watch again and pay attention to. I think it also passes as decent with a 7 out of 10 tomatoes. And it just occurred to me the Michael Cera, who plays Nick, was also in Juno. How about that?

"Burn After Reading" on HBO. "Who are you?!! Who do you work for?!!" This was an entertaining little goofball Coen Brothers film. George Clooney is excellent as are Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand, but it's just a light entertainment film. Truth to tell, I watched it twice, and I pretty much forgot it completely after the first viewing. I thought maybe I fell asleep, but during the second viewing, I remember seeing each scene before. Highly recommended for Coen Brothers fans. 7 out of 10 tomatoes.

I also started renting DVDs from Blockbusters after I got back from the U.S. I'll give those films the same treatment as I've given before.